Semua Bab Leesa's Advent: Bab 311 - Bab 320

Leesa, Dominic and the three volkaanes sat leaning against trees near the river, waiting for Jenna to arrive, although Leesa was leaning more against Rave’s side than she was the tree trunk behind them. Bain had returned soon after dark and reported pretty much the same thing as Rave had—no solid information to be gleaned and an increasingly tightening security presence around the town. He had exited the village through one of the few areas still remaining to be fenced. He told them he expected the fence to be complete by the following night.Earlier, Leesa had dispatched the remaining two zombies much more efficiently than the first one, needing just a single short blast to fell each of them. She was very glad for the extra practice and experience, and was now much more confident she could hold her own alone against a small band of the creatures, at least. She had also used her magic to help Rave and Dral dig three holes a short distance back in the woods to bury

Jenna frowned. She wasn’t learning anything she didn’t already know. Just to be sure, she turned to the second soldier.“What about you? Do you know anything?”The man shook his head. “Just what the Sarge already told you, ma’am.”“Okay.” Jenna performed a more intricate set of hand gestures, sealing a forgetting spell in place.“You can go now,” she said when she had finished. “You will remember nothing of this meeting. Get on back to whatever you were doing.”The soldiers spun around without a word. She watched them exit the alley, never looking back. Out of her presence, the compulsion spell would quickly wear off. The forgetting spell would not.Once the men were gone, Jenna shifted back into her owl form, ready to spend a couple of hours perched atop the roof of the hospital, hoping to overhear something useful. The chances were small, she knew, but she had no

Leesa enjoyed the mile long walk to the restaurant. The early evening air felt pleasantly warm on her skin, and a soft breeze from the east carried the faint scent of the river to her nostrils. As she approached Giovanni’s, she spotted Cali waiting outside the entrance. In truth, it would have been hard to miss her. Cali was dressed fairly conservatively—for Cali. She had on a florescent orange tank top and plain white shorts. Three bright orange streaks adorned the left side of her dark hair and her sandals had orange straps. Naturally, she had painted her toenails to match the straps. The two girls greeted each other with a quick hug. “I’m glad to see you made it back in one piece,” Cali said. “I can’t wait to hear all about that zombie stuff. Did you see any of them for real?” “Yeah, I did,” Leesa replied. “I’ll tell you all about it after we get a table and order. I’m starving.” Inside, the restaurant was only about half full, a far cry fr

As usual, they hiked almost a half mile into the state forest, picking their way among the trees to lessen the chance anyone would stumble across them while Leesa performed her magic. This morning, they found an especially pretty place where a winding stream cut through the woods, allowing a ribbon of bright sunlight to shine down through the otherwise thick foliage. Motes of dust floated in the sunlight like magical fairy dust, while the gurgling water created a peaceful soundtrack for the scene. Leesa was glad when Dominic said they would stop here.“This is beautiful,” she said as she walked closer to the water. “It’s like something out of a nature video.”“It’s magical,” Cali agreed. “The perfect place for you to practice.”Dominic had obviously decided that driving with her mind was enough of a warm-up for Leesa, because he got right to her lessons. He pointed to a large rock in the middle of the s

Jami Mossi's picture filled the entire first page of the Woburn High senior class yearbook for good reason. In addition to being a stellar athlete, she had graduated fifth in her class, been voted Homecoming Queen and Most Likely to Succeed, and to top it all off, possessed a model’s wholesome good looks. She had lettered in both soccer and basketball, but her true love ever since she was a young girl was softball. Tall, svelte and blond, she resembled her idol, Jennie Finch. Unlike Finch, Jami was not a pitcher, but her sweet swing had set a state single season record for home runs and carried Woburn to the state championship. Her many fans wanted her to attend one of the local Boston colleges, but Jami had accepted a scholarship from Finch’s powerhouse alma mater, the University of Arizona. She would be heading west in the middle of August, but for now she was enjoying her summer at home, training and playing in two different softball leagues. One of the leagues was a men’s league i